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The Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) called on Sri Lanka’s Attorney General to not abuse his prosecutorial discretionary powers by transferring the cases of three Tamil political prisoners to a court in the South.

The Attorney General’s justification of security concerns for moving the cases was “difficult to believe” said the TCSF, in a statement released on Tuesday.

It went on to add,

“It is ridiculous that the Attorney General is citing security concerns for transfer of cases out of the North-East eight years after the end of the war. The transfer of these cases give the impression that courts in the North - East similar to Tamil citizens are treated as second class.”

The TCSF said the Attorney General “has a responsibility to act in a manner that instills confidence in the judiciary and the criminal process”. “This is particularly important given the lack of confidence in these processes and institutions from within the Tamil population of the country,” it added.

“We urge the Attorney General to re-transfer the cases immediately to the Vavuniya High Court. We also reiterate our general position that the Government must release all political prisoners unconditionally and immediately. “